Polsinelli

Polsinelli is an Am Law 100 firm with approximately 800 attorneys in 20 offices. Ranked #17 for Client Service Excellence and #10 for best client relationships among 650 U.S. law firms, Polsinelli was also named among the top 20 best-known firms in the nation. The firm’s attorneys provide value through practical legal counsel infused with business insight, and focus on health care, financial services, real estate, intellectual property, mid-market corporate, labor and employment, and business litigation. www.polsinelli.com | Polsinelli PC | In California, Polsinelli LLP

History

The Polsinelli firm was started in 1972 by Jim Polsinelli and two other young attorneys in a small office to serve business and real estate clients in the historic Country Club District in Kansas City, Missouri.

Polsinelli represented small businesses and entrepreneurs throughout the 1980s. In the mid-1980s the firm expanded its trial practice by adding a national products liability practice.

In the 1990s, Polsinelli continued to expand both in the number of attorneys. In 2000, Polsinelli created a Science and Technology group with patent and business attorneys focused on the emerging biotech industry.

With its June 2004 merger with Suelthaus, PC, a 35-lawyer St. Louis-based entrepreneurial business law firm founded in 1929, the firm doubled the size of its St. Louis office. In July 2005, it opened offices in Washington, D.C. and New York. In January 2006, Nasharr & Shea LLC, a small banking and real estate firm, merged into the firm, giving Polsinelli an office in Chicago.

On February 1, 2009, the 300 attorney Polsinelli firm merged with Shughart Thomson & Kilroy, P.C., a 180 lawyer Kansas City based, regional law firm with a national trial reputation and a business practice. Shughart Thomson & Kilroy (STK) traces its roots to 1939 when Harry Thomson graduated from law school and joined Henry Shughart. The third-named partner, Jack Kilroy, Sr., joined the firm after World War II. STK grew in large part due to its recognition of premier trial lawyers.

On January 1, 2014, the firm added Atlanta-based Rafuse Hill & Hodges, a group of highly experienced employment attorneys.

Between 2012 and present, the firm has also added offices in Houston, Boston, San Francisco,and Silicon Valley.

Notable cases

• Reichle v. Howards - Case decided by the Supreme Court 8-0 in 2012 in which Secret Service detail of Dick Cheney had not infringed on protestor's free speech rights when they arrested him.
• Coach America bankruptcy and restructuring.

Headquarters

Polsinelli is headquartered in Plaza Vista on the Country Club Plaza. Prior to that, the firm has been headquartered in the Country Club Plaza in the Plaza Steppes building starting in 1991. Earlier it had been located in the Plaza Theatre building in the Plaza. Its attempts to move to a new headquarters in recent years has met with some controversy. In 2010 it proposed moving into a new 8-story glass tower at 47th and Broadway on the east side of the Plaza. That structure would have involved tearing down a vintage 1920s Plaza building in the Plaza's traditional low rise Spanish style and replacing it with a glass highrise. The plan was eventually withdrawn after considerable protests.

In 2012 it announced plans to tear down the bankrupt and unfinished Moshe Safdie-designed West Edge building that had originally been built for Bob Bernstein on the west side of the Plaza and replace it with a 10-story structure designed by 360 Architecture called Plaza Vista. On February 12, 2013, a natural gas explosion in the gas line leading into JJ's Restaurant across the street from the project leveled the restaurant and heavily damaged the Plaza Vista's glass curtain wall. The Plaza Vista's roof also had to be replaced because of embers. Despite setbacks, contractors were able to finish the project and the firm was able to move into their new headquarters on November 1, 2013.

Notable Attorneys

• Q. Todd Dickinson, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
• Alan Wheat, Missouri Congressman
• John Shaddeg, former Arizona Congressman

References

External links

• polsinelli.com